Chapter 528 527. Go Piston!

Although the process is different, the result is the same.

Liu Mang adopted Kidd's original method of dealing with Billups in the Eastern Conference finals, stimulating Billups to fight himself, using his stronger scoring ability and the opponent's bad habit of shooting, and trying to fight in a pair. The first one killed Billups, Billups collapsed, and the system of this year's Pistons almost collapsed.

But I didn't expect Billups' mentality to explode early because of an accident about whether a foul was established.

Originally, Billups was under great pressure against the Eagles, but it was not written on his face.

The pre-match pressure, facing Liu Mang’s hard-to-win past, and the fact that he thought he had committed a foul at the beginning of the game and the referee didn’t blow the star whistle... All the reasons combined, Billups is stronger than Liu Mang imagined. Crash early!

Originally, Billups had just become the core this year. For the first time, he lacked experience.

In the minds of most teams, the Hawks who reached the Eastern Conference finals last season are no different from the Nets. At least Billups thinks so, so the pressure is already great.

Then he was ignited by Liu Mang's sentence "the weak are not eligible for free throws". It is reasonable to explode the mentality.

Kidd was originally like a monster in the Eastern Conference Finals. He averaged 24 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists per game, but he also defended Billups with a shooting percentage of only 27%.

Liu Mang doesn't have Kidd's exaggerated defensive dominance and rebounding. Billups still has a 33% field goal percentage, and even in the case of only playing 25 minutes and committing six fouls, he won every quarter. At least 5 points, the audience scored 23 points and 4 assists.

But Billups made 6 of 18 shots from the field, plus a rare 4 turnovers and six fouls off the field, which caused the Pistons to collapse on both offense and defense.

Mostly rebounding!

This is the key. Although Ben Wallace scored 7 points and 20 rebounds in this game, the Pistons only had 33 rebounds, while the Eagles had 49 rebounds!

Before the formation of the double Wallace combination, the Pistons were still bullied in terms of rebounds despite having the rebounding leader.

Liu Mang suppressed Billups and ensured the rebound inside. When Jason Terry came up to catch and throw the ball, Liu Mang mainly passed the ball, and the Eagles began to widen the point difference.

In the end, the Eagles did not take much effort. They defeated the Pistons 91-77 in the away game and easily won their first playoff victory.

Liu Mang made 16 free throws, 13 of which were made by Billups. He made 14 of 16 free throws and scored 25 points in 8 shots! That is to say, basically Liu Mang scored all his points when Billups was on the court. In addition, he had 10 assists! Liu Mang scored 25 points, 10 assists and 2 rebounds.

When Billups was fouled and replaced, Liu Mang chose to hold the ball in his hands when facing Chucky Atkins, who was completely unable to guard him, and focused on breaking through and scoring.

It was also the first time to blow up Billups as the core. The sensation caused by Liu Mang was more influential than the original Kidd who abused Billups even more!

The main reason is that Kidd doesn't seem to be too much to watch, regardless of offense or defense. Defense relies on anticipation, little action, few fouls, and not many offenses with the ball. The main scoring method is to go around the pick and roll. What did he do to his opponent when he came out, but the opponent just hit the iron continuously.

And Liu Mang looks even more coquettish! There are all kinds of weird ideas on both offensive and defensive ends, the key is that it is very entertaining! Really coquettish! The fouls were made in different ways and made all kinds of Jamaican screams, ecstasy and anger.

The most important thing is that he made 5 of 8 shots and 1 of 2 three-pointers, and scored 25 points with free throws!

During the regular season, some people said that Billups' fouls were not inferior to Liu Mang's. Only in the playoffs did people know who the king of fouls was!

...

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After the game, Liu Mang's feat of scoring 25 points in 8 shots sparked heated discussions. If the Lakers hadn't been upset at home afterwards, the Timberwolves slaughtered the Lakers 119 to 91 and took away the home court advantage of the series. After the attraction has passed, Liu Mang estimated that there will be a lot of war of words.

After playing the first game against the Pistons, Liu Mang decisively chose to keep a low profile for the time being. In an interview, he said that he was lucky today. Billups just missed a lot of shots. The team rebounded well. Give the opponent a second chance to attack, own more second attacks, etc., attribute the credit to the team, and take the initiative to downplay the impact of this game.

The time to act aggressive is not yet ripe, Liu Mang chooses to keep a low profile...

The Hawks and Timberwolves both played against each other, and after defeating the team with a better record to gain home court advantage, all the opening games of the first round of the playoffs were played.

Except for the Timberwolves, who were seen as a big upset, the rest of the series started as expected.

The Lakers' road to the championship has cast a shadow. Although most fans still think that the Lakers can still beat the Timberwolves, they are not so optimistic about the Lakers' road to the championship.

At the beginning of the playoffs, the Lakers, who were only ranked fifth in the Western Conference, were placed first in the championship probability out of respect for the defending champion. After the first game, the new championship probability ranking will be updated immediately Yes, the Lakers dropped from first to fifth and were overtaken by the Nets. The Eagles still ranked sixth, unshakable.

...

After the first game, the Eagles thought that the Pistons fans would be furious after losing the game and do some outrageous things. For example, in the 1980s, when they lost a game to the Bulls, they blocked the entrance of the parking lot. , the police didn’t leave when they came, and they just dragged the Bulls players for an hour or two. Back then, there weren’t as many interviews and activities as there are now, and the post-game physical therapy was not so professional. After the game, take a shower, have a massage, and leave around ten o'clock, but the Pistons fans wait until the early morning to let the Bulls leave. Sometimes they win, and they have to run to block them. Add blockage.

The Pistons were hated back then, not just the bad boys, but also their fans who were like bandits. Some teams are like this. In addition to strength, there are many off-court factors to win.

But this time Pistons fans were surprisingly calm.

Mainly because I lost my temper!

Although the Pistons still have some unrestricted old fans, this is the 21st century, and the fans have been replaced a long time ago. This is the second year that he was beaten by the Eagles at home, let alone his temper.

Originally, before the start of the first game, the Pistons fans still had confidence, expecting the team to withstand the pressure and beat the Eagles at home. In order to increase the morale of the team, the Pistons fans were very enthusiastic and energetic before the game.

But at the beginning of the game, the Pistons were brutally abused by the Eagles. Billups went crazy in Liu Mang, and Billups was beaten. The Pistons can only go back to last year. Robinson's offensive style of play, the Eagles have seen this kind of play last year, it is not good at all, the regular season is okay, in the playoffs it really makes the Pistons fans desperate.

The Pistons fans who originally supported the team with great enthusiasm, now have no temper to cause trouble for the Eagles off the court.

However, after the Eagles returned to the hotel, they continued to be grounded. On the second day off, the players still had to go back and forth between the hotel and the training hall.

Although after the first game, the Pistons fans seemed to have died down and had no desire to confront the Eagles off the court, but the Eagles did not dare to be careless.

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The playoffs did not stop because of the two amazing performances of the eighth-placed Eagles beating the first place and the three-peat defending champion Lakers being abused by the Timberwolves by 28 points, and continued in full swing.

On the third game day of the playoffs, the Spurs and the Rockets ushered in the second game.

Is the Spurs game against the Rockets worth watching? With Duncan here, and it's still the Spurs' home court, how could there be any accidents? Waking up is another big victory... an accident really happened!

Both Francis and the old cat Mobley went berserk, Francis scored 35 points, the old cat Mobley scored 29 points, and the two scored 64 points together, blowing up the small sports car and the young boxer!

Although Bowen was there, both Francis and Mobley broke out. Although Duncan still scored 27 points and 15 rebounds steadily, James Posey, the strongest defensive player of the Rockets, caused a critical moment. Stephen Jackson made an offensive foul, and the Rockets beat the Spurs 96-95 in an away game, tying the score at 1-1.

During the post-match interview between the Rockets and the Spurs, Duncan remained expressionless as if nothing had happened, while Popovich praised the Rockets to death, especially Yao Ming, which probably meant Yao Ming It is the key to the Rockets' victory. However, rookie Yao Ming met Duncan in the playoffs. Except for 3 blocks in the two games, it was not bad. The two games added up to 15 points, and this game only scored 6 points. 7 rebounds and 3 blocks, was completely smashed by Duncan...

In the subsequent game where the Pacers played against the Bucks at home, they struggled to hold a home game 99 to 95.

There were only three games in the second game day. In the last game, the Mavericks experienced another defensive battle, and finally relied on home court advantage to beat the Blazers again with a difficult 93 to 89.

If Nash hadn't scored 28 points on 71.4 percent of his 10-of-14 shots, plus eight assists with only one turnover, the Mavericks' home court advantage would have been revealed.

...

Soon came April 24th, the game day for the second game of the Eagles arrived. There are five games today, and the Eagles challenged the Pistons again at the Palace of Auburn Hills at 8 pm.

After losing the first game, the Pistons themselves did not believe that they could beat the Eagles. Their confidence was gone. They were not the iron-blooded team under the hands of the future Larry Brown.

Clifford Robinson hasn't left the Pistons yet, and his defensive performance is about the same as that of the future Rasheed Wallace. Rasheed Wallace's offensive scoring and defensive rebounding are better. Rasheed Wallace probably There are 14+8 or 15+7 performances, but Clifford Robinson has an average of about 4 assists per game.

Billups, Hamilton, and Ben Wallace's core structures of organization, scoring, and defense are already in place. Although Prince is missing, the Pistons' iron-blooded skeleton is almost complete.

But there is a skeleton, but there is no iron-blooded soul brought by Larry Brown!

They were swept in the second round last year, and they were beaten in the first game this year. The Pistons played at a loss in the second game. There is no way!

After Billups came, coach Carlisle couldn't control this team anymore, and the players didn't believe that their defense could beat the Eagles. Without that energy, they didn't even have confidence in their strongest abilities. The result was obvious. , The Pistons collapsed after halftime this time.

16+5+7, Liu Mang still performed well in this game, Billups continued to be well defended, scored 15 points on 6 of 21 shots, continued to pay the tuition fee for the first time as the core, but paid " "Teacher" changed from Kidd to Liu Mang.

In addition, Raheem, Muhammad, Ratliff, and Boozer combined to get 40 rebounds, and the four had 3 more rebounds than the Pistons. Ben Wallace continued to get 17 rebounds The ball, but unable to compete with so many rebounders of the Eagles.

96 to 79, the Eagles easily won two consecutive victories away!

As the saying goes, the rebounder wins the world. Relying on the dominance of rebounding, the Eagles counterattacked and won two consecutive victories without home court advantage in the first two games of the series. The status of eight leads the Pistons by a large score.

The Nets, 76ers, and Hornets saw that the Pistons couldn't even struggle, and they were so disappointed in the Pistons!

Not only the players of the three teams, but also complaints about the Pistons on the Internet.

A certain IP was a fan from New Jersey who posted on the official NBA forum: "Anyway, it caused a little trouble for the Eagles! Anyway, you are the number one in the Eastern Conference! Why are you so useless!"

"The landlord is right! Anyway, he is the number one in the Eastern Conference, how can he be so miserably abused by the eighth." The IP on the second floor is from North Carolina. Although the Hornets moved out of Charlotte, the fans here are still paying attention wasp.

"The first place of the Pistons is too watery, and it is entirely because the Eagles are ranked eighth, and the Nets and Pacers let it out." The IP on the third floor is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Declaration of Independence.

"..."

"..."

...

Fans of the three teams huddled together to complain about the Pistons.

After the Pistons fell behind 0-2, Pistons fans didn't dare to speak on the Internet. The news was overwhelmingly biased towards the Eagles. It was all unfavorable news for the Pistons. The steel workers had no face to post and could only dive silently.

However, seeing the cynicism of the fans of the three teams, finally some Pistons fans couldn't help it.

"We have tried our best, our players have worked very hard, why don't you try in the next round?" On the 128th floor, an IP from Detroit finally said a word.

Grief and indignation mixed with helplessness, this sentence shows the mood of the Pistons fans.

Seeing this reply, the fans of the three teams didn't know what to answer.

Then……

Someone is a Pistons fan, it's an IP from Los Angeles.

"Come on, piston! We support you!"

Someone took the lead, and the painting style of the post changed suddenly.

"Come on the piston..."

"Support the Pistons..."

"Kill the Eagles..."

"..."

...

On April 25th, after playing two away games, the Eagles took a long nap after the second game and flew back to Atlanta at 11:30 noon.

Two consecutive away games, the Eagles players should not be too happy!

The perfect start to the playoffs allowed the Eagles to finally relax their tense mentality.

At this time, something inexplicable for the Eagles appeared.

Since the Eagles finished the game yesterday at 10:30, it was already close to returning to the hotel. This morning, most people slept until after 9:00 and woke up. They got up and packed their things and rushed to the airport to take a chartered flight back to Atlanta. There was no time to watch. News and follow the web.

After returning to Atlanta, the Eagles players saw an inexplicable news.

Basketball fans all over the United States have a common slogan - "Go Pistons".

Of course, most people are just joking. In this era when the Internet is becoming more and more popular, the United States, the country with the most developed Internet, took the lead in having this social change in which the Internet guides public opinion. At first, it was initiated by a fan in Los Angeles, and then countless people It started to follow suit, and finally it became popular on the Internet all over the United States, and it also extended to physical media!

Liu Mang saw that this slogan was actually on the headlines of the newspapers. Even the Atlanta Times followed up with a funny headline about the Pistons cheering. In this situation, when the home court was beaten 0-2, hearing the cries of sympathy from the fans all over the United States, it is impossible to work hard, and the feeling of finding a hole in the ground may be deeper...

...

The "support" of the fans, not only did not make the Pistons feel that there was anything good, but they became even less confident, and people began to sympathize with them.

On April 27, after two days of rest, the Eagles ushered in the third game of the series at home.

Billups lost his starting position in this game. He played so badly in the first two games that he was put on the bench by Coach Carlisle, but he didn't play very well as a substitute. He took 11 shots in 18 minutes. Scoring 7 points on 3 of 11 shots, the Pistons returned to last season's style of play in the starting stage and still lost to the Eagles.

103 to 92, the Eagles won three consecutive cities, leading 3 to 0!

The three eaglets scored 70 points, Liu Mang scored 22 points and 8 assists, Jason Terry came off the bench and scored 31 points and 5 assists, and Rahim led the team to a big win with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. win!

Back at home, the Hawks finally scored 100 points. After the Pistons Billups and Ben Wallace played separately, the control of the field was not so strong, the rhythm was not so slow, and the Pistons played better offensively. , but the Eagles benefited more from this, played better offensively, and easily won the third victory.

The collective mentality of the Pistons players has collapsed now, and they are already desperate.

There has never been an example of a 0 to 3 comeback, and the Hawks are still at home next. The Pistons players have no hope at all, and even seem to see themselves being hung on the same list of shame as the Supersonics and the Knicks... …

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After the game, during the preparation time before the press conference, Coach Kruger was reading the team’s prepared interview after winning the game. After a while, the reporter who had discussed with the team what questions to ask after winning the game would ask, that is The legendary "Tuo".

"Mike, the Hornets and the 76ers, who do you think will be our opponent in the next round?" Coach Kruger asked.

"It's hard to say. Their regular season records are similar, and they each defended their own home courts. I think they may reach the tiebreaker." Mike Woodson expressed the safest guess in order to be conservative.

Who says Americans are all straight? Mike Woodson is also worried. He is more optimistic about the promotion of the 76ers with the former MVP, but in case he said that he is optimistic about the promotion of the 76ers, then Coach Kruger chose to believe his judgment and start preparing for the match against the 76ers. The Hornets have advanced, and he has to bear the blame for wasting time.

Coach Kruger didn't pay much attention to this, he just asked.

"It's not good to advance too early. You don't know who your opponent will be in the next round, so you can't prepare well." Coach Kruger couldn't help pretending to be aggressive when there were no outsiders.

After taking a 3-0 lead, the Eagles felt that it would be a matter of time before they advanced, and they were indeed considering who their opponents would be in the next round, but they would definitely not say it outright, even to their own players. Coach Kruger didn't show too much joy, but told his players not to get carried away, don't make trouble for themselves, and eliminate opponents early so that they can prepare for the next round of competition earlier.

Although secretly pretending to say that it is troublesome not to know who the next opponent is, but if you can sweep the opponent, who is willing to fight to the tiebreaker? Ending the series one game earlier is an advantage for any team.

Just when Coach Kruger couldn't help pretending to be aggressive in private, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Coach Kruger withdrew his smug expression when he was checking the draft with Mike Woodson.

The door was pushed open, and it was Mauron Wiley, the current vice president of logistics for the team.

Seeing Moron Willie walking in in a hurry, coach Kruger felt a little bit in his heart, and a bad premonition came.

Coach Kruger suppressed the inexplicable anxiety in his heart and asked, "What's the matter, Moron? Are you in such a hurry?"

Moron-Willie said with a strange expression: "Lang, Ace went to the interview ahead of time!"

"What's wrong with Ace? Did he clash with the reporter or fight with the Pistons players?" Coach Kruger asked anxiously, feeling more and more uneasy in his heart.

Moron Wiley found that Coach Kruger seemed to have misunderstood, and quickly explained: "No, no, it's not that serious. There are no fights or conflicts, and it's not a big deal..."

Not a big deal? Coach Kruger was very puzzled about the meaning of Moron Willie's expression as if he had eaten Xiang just now.

Realizing his gaffe, Coach Kruger calmed down and asked, "What happened?"

"It's not a big deal. When Ace was interviewed just now, he said that he was already thinking about his opponent in the second round. He asked the media to tell the 76ers and Hornets to play faster. He wanted to play the second round earlier. Don't worry. Let him wait too long..." Moron Willy tried to make this matter as easy as possible, after all, he has a good relationship with Liu Mang.

But this kind of thing, no matter how understatement, Coach Kruger also felt the fright!

In fact...Liu Mang didn't intend to accept the interview ahead of time, but was anxious to wait and wanted to complete the triggering conditions of the task quickly, so he waited outside the interview hall of the Phillips Arena, and just came out after being interviewed by the Pistons First pass the first wave of interview drafts back to the agency or the TV station reporter saw it, so I accepted the interview in advance.

Coach Kruger looked at the ceiling speechlessly, pretending to be struck by lightning! I just pretended to be aggressive secretly, and that kid actually went directly to the media to pretend to be aggressive. Is this retribution?

Can't you just sweep the opponent easily! You have to stimulate each other!